From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…
Stark, Staring
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi showed her true liberal colors when she briefly gave the nod to one of Congress’s most vocal liberals to replace scandal-ridden Charlie Rangel as chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. But sober second thoughts have now prevailed and Mr. Stark’s reign ended before it began.
The unannounced reason was undoubtedly a revolt by saner members at this morning’s closed caucus meeting. Reports say that Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen leaned on Mr. Stark to step aside in the interests of the party, and the caucus unanimously approved Michigan Democrat Sander Levin instead.
Republicans will be disappointed. They were looking forward to making a fundraising poster boy of Mr. Stark, a dyspeptic 78-year-old from California’s Bay Area. Said one K Street observer yesterday when the appointment seemed a done deal: "He will be a dream for Republicans fundraising to take over control of Congress. He is so volatile and unpredictable, the business community will contribute if there’s any chance to stop him from keeping the gavel."
Over the years, Mr. Stark has called various GOP colleagues "fruitcake" and "whore for the insurance industry," as well as accusing former Rep. J.C. Watts of fathering all his children "out of wedlock." In 2007, he said President George W. Bush was amused by seeing the heads of U.S. soldiers getting blown off. He later apologized for those remarks on the House floor. He also narrowly escaped an ethics inquiry over claiming a homestead tax deduction for his Maryland residence even though he is registered to vote in California. A highly critical investigator’s report noted that Mr. Stark was "extremely belligerent and frequently insulted [Office of Congressional Ethics] staff members interviewing him."
Mr. Stark was originally selected for the Ways and Means post not just because Ms. Pelosi wanted him, but because the ancient seniority system is considered sacrosanct by House Democrats. "We do believe in seniority around here," Rep. John Lewis of Georgia told reporters yesterday. Apparently not so much, though, that they were prepared to tie their political fates to Mr. Stark in a job guaranteed to panic the nation’s taxpayers, business owners and employers.
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A Victory for Health Care
Anyone who still holds out hope for sensible health care reform dodged a bullet yesterday when Pete Stark saw his reign over the House Ways and Means Committee aborted by an apparent revolt of fellow Democrats.
One way or another, most of the dysfunctions in American health care can be traced to the persistent efforts of Fortney Hillman Stark Jr. As the long-time chairman of the Ways and Means health subcommittee, he was the architect in the 1980s of Medicare’s payment system, still in use today, which study after study has shown underpays health care providers and forces cost-shifting to privately insured patients. Even so, Mr. Stark said he still thought Medicare was too much "a license to steal" for doctors and hospitals.
He’s even less fond of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, and his brainstorms have consistently threatened their existence as private enterprises and driven up costs. A flavor of the California Democrat’s health-care views is provided by his opposition to HillaryCare in 1993 — because it was too moderate.
Over the years, both parties have generally handed the powerful Ways and Means gavel to well-liked and relatively balanced Members — a tradition that was about to be violated in the extreme yesterday when Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to anoint Mr. Stark. Tradition has now been reinstated with the last-minute offering of the gavel to a reasonable midwesterner, Michigan Democrat Sander Levin, instead.